Looking back: London Ontario, winter, roots, guppy

Its rare but this painting had the date painted on the back, February 1997. That would be a little over a year of painting on location, and my second winter of painting outdoors. I actually started watercolour painting in 1989 but only did florals and photo copies until 1995. 

Ice breakup Thames, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, February 1997

I believe that this old CN train building is gone now, its where I used to buy train tickets on the bottom floor to go back to Bolton, via Brampton. I used to add vodka to the painting water, but it this temperature, around -10℃ it turns to slush any-ways. Nowadays I use salt in the water.

Old CN building, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997

A pine tree in the park, surrounded by snow. I made sure to mark the temperature down (-10℃). At the time it was a record for me, to paint in such cold weather. My record now, for painting on location in the winter, is -26℃ (-14.8 F) with -39℃ (-38.2 F) windchill, the painting is called icy cold on campus. 

Winter pine tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 1997

Here is a scene from around the backwoods of north London Ontario, looking down a cliff to a small river, with tree roots hanging over the ledge. I like the atmospheric effect of the river and distant trees, with a neat patterns of root formation. 

Roots on cliff river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 2002

Probably done in Montreal, here is a painting of one of my guppies, with a fancy red and orange tail. By the way, due to all the rain non-stop I have not painted outside for a few days, but I have queued up some new Curio Folio ideas due to popular demand!  

Guppy, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Looking back: London Ontario couch, campus scenes

Here are a few more London Ontario scenes, from the year 2000 give or take. If I had to pick one my personal favorite paintings from that era, its this one, a couch and garbage bag out on the curb. With an amazing attention to detail, the textures are wonderful on the beat up old furniture and shiny garbage bags with yellow pull ties. A shrubbery, car and front porch can be seen in the background. 

Couch garbage bags on curb, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

Three of my favorite things to paint, construction vehicle, truck trailer, and a portable toilette! I was mixing cerulean blue into the shadows which gave a soft, pleasing tone. Unfortunately it was hard to control and could become heavy and mucky in many paintings. Its a good trick for grey or blue/green shadows. 

Construction trailer port-o-let, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

A campus scene from up on the hill, looking towards the music building. In the background you see spring time trees with lime green foliage appearing, and the London downtown skyline. I have a stack of the "A" paintings from London, I will scan through them and post from time to time so we can all take a trip down memory lane. 

Campus passageway spring, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

Le Plateau alleys and depot hilltop

Making my way out to Little Italy, I made this painting of a back alley looking out onto st Laurent street in the background. The building on the right is the rear of Anatol spices where I buy bulk food all the time. The store emits a very interesting spice smell into the alley. Its the best-smelling alleyway in Montreal! 

Anatol alley, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Le Plateau is known for its alleys, they are lush green spaces with landscaped gardens, terraces and fancy balconies. Many of the buildings are renovated in this neighborhood, its probably not cheap to live here. 

Le Plateau alley, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

On Bellechasse near st Laurent, they built an enormous bus depot, I did a painting of it under construction back in 2019. Like everything in Le Plateau, the citizens are extremely active and opinionated regarding development projects, so this one received a terraced roof planted with wild flowers, decorative grass and pine trees. I was standing near the top of it, a gravel path connects down to the sidewalk. Glad the citizens fought for this, I can return and do more paintings here.  

Bus depot hilltop horizontal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Trying a vertical composition this time, the painting shows an old warehouse with water tower in the background (without the graffiti), and the hilltop wildflowers with gravel path in the foreground. It started to rain here so I left the location. Its neat up here, lots of yellow and violet flowers, and there were probably even more flowers earlier in the summer. There are great views from up here and its relatively quiet. That's Mount Royal in the background. 

Bus depot hilltop vertical, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

July ends with a rainbow

Down at the end of the Maisonneuve bike path, or what used to be the end, there is a triangle-shaped park and a looping bike path. I paint here when I am tired after work and just want to go somewhere and paint. The rain finally stopped although the sky was still a deep purple, made with indo blue (PB60) and red ochre (PR102). Creating a variety of greens and textures on the trees was key to making the painting interesting to look at. 

Triangle park stormy sky, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Looking due south, this one shows a commuter train speeding past over the bridge, with a dark stormy sky off in the distance, and graffiti here and there. The sign actually says Drug Prophets, which is a graffiti crew tag, but I changed it to PJD profit! The spire off to the top right is the st Jacques bridge. 

PJD26 profit, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Its the five way intersection of Decarie road, Maisonneuve, and Upper Lachine road, near Vendome metro. Its a lot safer since they redid the road and bike path about ten years ago now. The red traffic light really popped here, it holds the composition together, creating a kind of rotational symmetry. The paint was hard to control today due to humidity, and painting on the backs of old paintings which is unpredictable. 

Five way intersection, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

One of the new condos in the background, nearly finished, with a billboard in the foreground. 

Condo billboard, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Finally for July, I saw this rainbow off in the distance, much smaller than depicted, and tried to capture the effect using a layered approach. First I applied the rainbow colours using high chroma paints on my palette (PR122, PR254, PO62, PY184, PG7, PB15). Then when mostly dry, I over-painted a neutral blue-violet wash and finished with some clouds. The funny looking buildings on the right are the Mega Hospital, with the train bridge on the bottom right. I was standing in the triangle park for all these paintings. 

Rainbow over train bridge, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Digital art: AI, symmetry, disco energy

In this digital image I depicted the Earth in the bottom right, with an exaggerated version of the moon stamped with AI. Like, AI taking over the Earth. 

AI versus Earth, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000, 2026

 

Using the 6-fold rotational symmetry tool, I created this swirling fan-shape. Making a circle with smudge paint and pattern stamps on top of the symmetry tool made for some interesting circular patterns. 

Disco neon energy, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000, 2026

 

The initial sketch was not too interesting, so I transformed it on a tilted angle and surrounded with purple haze. 

Tilted purple haze, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000, 2026

Also using the transform tool, followed by the rotational symmetry tool and stamps, here is a vicious looking fan tearing apart its surroundings. Its what I imagine the inside of a broken computer printer to look like. 

Busted printer, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000, 2026

 

Finally, another rotational symmetry piece, this time using the glow tool on a black background. I made a short video of this one, since I discovered that the Sketchbook app can record as you draw. Perhaps I will try to edit and post a video of the drawing being produced, its kind of neat to see. 

Lights up my brain, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000, 2026 

Digital art: Forms and figures

Another work using circular gradient fills, it turns out that if you apply gradient fill on top of another gradient fill, you get these bizarre shapes that look like birdies used in badminton. Strategic placement created a dynamic composition. 

Radio tube meld, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000

In this one I took a photo of a Vincent Van Gogh print I have hanging on the wall, then embellished the glass reflection with textural brushes and transparencies. 

Vincent reflections, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000

 

It was raining hard one day which inspired this textural work using a variety of brush tools. The under-drawing was circular, the over-drawing was on a diagonal to create visual kinetic energy. Splatter tool completed the wet look.  

Rainy day texture, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000

Using pop art composition, like Picasso or Warhol, I made a quick set of squiggles with an agitating colour scheme. It doesn't take much to convey the impression of a face with emotion. 

Worried person, Sketchbook, digital 800 x 1000 

Looking back: La Réunion

The island of La Réunion is a French territory in the middle of the Indian Ocean, to the east of Madagascar. Once a remote, uninhabited island, it is now home to a bustling community of Creole and French citizens. The Creole are a mix of people from Madagascar and surrounding islands, and descendants of the slaves that worked sugar cane and spices like vanilla and cinnamon. Those crops still grow on the island, although the main industry is tourism and it has military significance due to its remote location. They have other kinds of crops too, if you catch my drift. I had a chance to visit there in 2010, and made this scene on location a top the old volcanic crater on the north side, where the city of st-Denis lies. Being a top a volcanic crater gave wonderful views of the surrounding turquoise-blue-green water. The south side of the island has an active volcano that erupts every now and then. 

La Réunion house ocean view, watercolour 8 x 11" 2010 

Down closer to sea-level in the main part of the city, I made this painting of a restaurant hotel called Roland-Garros after a famous French airplane pilot. I tried to capture the volcanic jungle-covered mountain in the background with one of many palm trees blowing in the wind. It always seemed on the verge of raining here, and when it did, the rain came down heavy. 

Roland-Garros,  watercolour 8 x 11" 2010

Finally, another scene I painted on location, its the volcanic ridge line looking due south, with a spectacular sunset and powerful, rippling waves crashing in from the sea. If you look closely enough, on the right center at sea level, there is a small highway sign, because a highway actually runs along the coast line here. Hanging over the sea, it made for some harrowing driving especially when waves crashed through. When I saw this scene, I thought of "Sunrise on the Sagueny" a painting by Canadian artist Lucius R. O'Brien. I've often thought about going to the Sagueny here in Quebec and painting the same scene that O'Brien did in 1880. If I do so, it would be a night scene with stars, so "Stars on the Sagueny" or something like that. 

Intense island,  watercolour 8 x 11" 2010